Where's The Money Going????

[Picasso]

With the Mayoral race heating up.

It would be interesting if any upcoming candidate could take some $$ from their election purse to
independantly investigate the city's functions. And then expose the results into the SUNSHINE. HINT
Admin wants to trim worker bees while sucking up their honey from the hive.
The $ figures were just put out there......

It's time their glass house ~ GOT A GOOD THROW with a heavy rock.

It isn't so much that these majors and chiefs are being paid over 100K to hold these positions, which were once staffed by Sergeants. Come on why a major to oversee three I.A. Detectives? Why a Major to oversee 3 Intel Detectives. Why does crimes against persons, crimes against property, YRD, Narcotics, and each division of patrol need Majors? It is amazing how these majors ripped the city off for all that over time when they were lieutenants and once they become majors you can’t even find them working. Why does the chief’s executive secretary “Rink” have to be paid over 100k, a civilian could do the same job for half that money and would actually do it so much better.

One could cut a cool million from our budget just be thanking those in the staff with more than 25 years of service and sending them down the road. We are paying them far too much to so very little for the benefit of the community of St. Petersburg. Now just look to city hall where the mayor has created all these vice mayor positions to delegate his work to.

This explains it all........so where should the cuts be?

[CHUCKY CHEEEZE]

Why are the taxpayers paying so much money for 12 majors to sit around and surf the net?

How does such a small city need all those majors and other brass? Over A million bucks a year plus all the expenses they incur.

It is simply apalling on who much these higher ups, not just w/ SPPD, but within the city make! A rec mgr raking in over $100k? How much do the workers & supervisors that actually DO work make...$8/hr?

This is a major wakeup and as a fellow officer & city taxpayer, I'm nodding my head in disbelief to these numbers.

It's like the Big 3 US AutoMakers higher ups numbers on a smaller scale!

George Carlin was right when he said, "America is a melting pot...People @ the bottom get burned & the scum float to the top!".

[CHUCKY CHEEEZE]

Carron is making good money

[CHUCKY CHEEEZE]

Seriously, look how top heavy it is, how many cars you have on the road at night? You have this huge beehive of majors and above that are gone for the day right after lunch. The a couple dozen Cpls doing the work

Two majors (Intel and IA) making in excess of $200,000 between them, not counting benefits, and have a total staff of 8-9 between them. Friggin' ridiculous.

[FD Bro']

THE SOLUTION: put the FD on 4 day, 10 hour shifts :evil:

Educate me, I know 4/10 shifts benefit the employee, but how does it benefit the employer? Looking for a serious responce please.

This is a serious response. A 4-10's FD schedule would ELIMINATE the need for MUCH of the FD payroll by NOT PAYING FIREFIGHTERS for their time while they are at the station sleeping, cooking meals, watching TV, buying food at their local Publix, and exercising-- as is currently being done. Let's be honest, their is so little ACTUAL FD working time by these employees, that MANY, MANY of them are easily able to have other FULL-TIME JOBS because of the illogical current overpaid shift schedules. It is a feckless enigma of overpaid employees, forced upon the taxpayers.

Firefighters working 4 - 10's would be expected to perform meaningful, needed, and valuable work during their shift when not FIGHTING fires. They would return much more quickly to "the ready" from calls that never required their assistance in the first place.I see it every day-- the wasted unneeded responses to calls for: the cut finger that mom should have cleaned, and put on a clean band-aid, the fender-bender with NO INJURIES, and the excessive "calls answered" reports that are 40% featherbedding to justify the extraordinary equipment, administration, and direct manpower over-spending.

How many times have you gone to the hospital to talk to a "vic" and found there was NO TREATMENT needed, and the "vic" left the hospital prior to you even getting there to get a report???? TOO MANY TIMES! :x

A new mayor should undertake a "needs assessment" report by an independent financial economist, with meaningful job descriptions, considered on a cost/benefit analysis, and then start with a ZERO BASED BUDGET! The report's content will be a curmudgeon of information that generates resulting shock and will astound all its readers.

The current egregious mismanagement of the FD's human resources and capital resources will identify opportunities to save the taxpayers millions of dollars, reduce stress of police by putting more "feet on the street" where and when needed, reduce the current unbalanced law enforcement throughout the city, and increase morale of all "remaining" city workers. Those employees who keep their jobs will have PRIDE in their positions, work more effectively, have less stress, and do a better job for the ALL citizens, not just the vocal groups, and reduce the acrimony of taxpayers.

Well, you asked for a serious reply. This was serious and factual comment, based upon authoritative data and genuine concern for doing the right thing--not the disingenuous hubris of the current mayor and council, and the city's overpaid, unneeded, and feckless shirkers who fill high level "administrative" city positions.
:cop:

"This is a serious response. A 4-10's FD schedule would ELIMINATE the need for MUCH of the FD payroll by NOT PAYING FIREFIGHTERS for their time while they are at the station sleeping, cooking meals, watching TV, buying food at their local Publix, and exercising-- as is currently being done. Let's be honest, their is so little ACTUAL FD working time by these employees, that MANY, MANY of them are easily able to have other FULL-TIME JOBS because of the illogical current overpaid shift schedules. It is a feckless enigma of overpaid employees, forced upon the taxpayers."

Ehh... there's a lot to respond to.
4-10's would do provide 'what' for the citizen? I guess we could all wear a pager and just volunteer. Then you wouldn't have to pay us anything. I know 'I'd' show up for your emergency.

If we made all the changes that you proffer, we'd be so misaligned with the rest of the mainstream fire service we'd probably find it difficult to respond to emergencies. If you hadn't noticed, the emergencies that we do respond to are public driven and include all emergencies - including nuclear, biological and chemical. We mitigate all hazards that don't require a pair of hand-cuffs so please don't devalue us further.

"Firefighters working 4 - 10's would be expected to perform meaningful, needed, and valuable work during their shift when not FIGHTING fires. They would return much more quickly to "the ready" from calls that never required their assistance in the first place.I see it every day-- the wasted unneeded responses to calls for: the cut finger that mom should have cleaned, and put on a clean band-aid, the fender-bender with NO INJURIES, and the excessive "calls answered" reports that are 40% featherbedding to justify the extraordinary equipment, administration, and direct manpower over-spending."

What kind of "meaningful, needed, and valuable work" would you have us doing? I thought that's what a paid professional career service fire fighter did. "Meaningful work." Would you be happy if we mowed the lawns at the stations again? How 'bout change lightbulbs at the pier? Is that meaningful work? Been there - done that! Would you guarantee me a disability pension if a rock puts my eye out while mowing? How 'bout if I fall from a ladder truck while doing bullshizz work that an electrician with a hi-lift truck should be doing?

As to returning quickly to "the ready" as you call it, I'm starting to develop a picture in my mind of what drives your opinion of all of us undeserving, underworked fire fighters and fire fighter paramedics. As to your opinion of the varied nature and types of calls that we respond to, I guess you could ask the Pinellas County Commission and their Office of Medical Direction if they could cut us some slack because you as a LEO/JD/MD have a different opinion on how to filter calls that FD crews are dispatched to. Do you think you somehow have an exclusive on what's BS? I'll guarantee you that in my over 25 years on the job that I've responded to far more dead person calls that turned out to be nothing at all and 'you' weren't even called. You don't have the market cornered on useless calls. They're generated by the public. We, like you, don't make this stuff up - we just respond to it. You talk about administration and "direct manpower over-spending." I'll vote for more Indians and fewer chiefs any day. But your assertion about the City of St. Pete is overspending on manpower is just misguided. Are you of the belief that the city spends too much money on outrageous numbers of Police Officers? Didn't think so.

The NFPA mandates that for safe fire and rescue fireground operations that ladder trucks be manned with 4-5 personnel and engines with 4. Your ladder trucks carry all the tools and equipment for Basic Life Support (including Automated External Defibrillators), elevating master streams, rope rescue, confined space rescue, structure fire rescue, elevator rescue, dewatering, & ventilation as well as all the tools and equipment necessary to remove a vehicle from around a crumpled-up human body. They are the aircraft carriers of the fleet! With the most recent cut-backs in overtime spending (that's how the city staffs it's trucks - with overtime because it's actually cheaper) the ladder truck company that is responding to your emergency 'now' will more than likely have 2 people on board and the engine company that responds with it will have 3 onboard. Both customer and mission safety are greatly compromised. When we respond to a structure fire call with 3 people on board, by the NFPA's own 2-in-2-out rule, we don't have enough personnel initially to make an aggressive interior fire attack until more trucks show up on the scene. Not unlike you - we can't move in until it's safe but often do.

"How many times have you gone to the hospital to talk to a "vic" and found there was NO TREATMENT needed, and the "vic" left the hospital prior to you even getting there to get a report???? TOO MANY TIMES!"

And you're blaming 'who' for that?

"The current egregious mismanagement of the FD's human resources and capital resources will identify opportunities to save the taxpayers millions of dollars, reduce stress of police by putting more "feet on the street" where and when needed, reduce the current unbalanced law enforcement throughout the city, and increase morale of all "remaining" city workers. Those employees who keep their jobs will have PRIDE in their positions, work more effectively, have less stress, and do a better job for the ALL citizens, not just the vocal groups, and reduce the acrimony of taxpayers."

Wow... I guess you've got it all worked out. You'll trade one mission critical public safety service for another and allay all human suffering, too! Meanwhile, back at the ranch the Pinellas County Commission is trying to pick the city's pocket for half of her Rescue Trucks.

The next time we need to transport a LE Officer, Fire Fighter or child we just pulled from the bottom of a pool and the closest Sunstar ambulance is at Ulmerton and 49 St. you'll be glad that we fought to keep the number of personnel that we have and those shiny red rescue trucks. Transporting a patient on a piece of diamond plate in the back of an engine is something that we constantly rail against but may have to do in the future.

Oh... and as a reality check to you. I've yet to see this city cut one public safety budget to make up for the shortfalls in another. That's just dreaming and shouldn't be considered to be part of a "serious response."


FD Bro'